Written By abdulloh umar on Saturday, October 20, 2012 | 1:04 PM

So, a brand new update brings a change to the rules. I still refuse to try names like "boobies" and I still refuse to try any of the Top 200 "1.8.2" seeds that PC users crow about because there's already plenty written about them. This blog is for unique seed names only.

Scoring

Each seed will be evaluated using the following seventeen categories, each on a scale of one to ten, for a total score of between 0 and 170. Some are judged on quality, others on quantity, some on how much of the map they cover, and still others on their general impressiveness. They are as follows:

[FLAT] Flatlands (based on single largest flatland)

[V] Villages

[M/H] Mountains and Hills (% of map and quality)

[RAV] Ravines

[CAV] Caves (quantity and depth)

[AMS] Abandoned Mineshafts

[HOLD] Strongholds

[DW] Deep Water (% of map)

[OH] Overhangs

[LB] Land Bridges

[FLOAT] Floaters

[SHADS] Shadows

[W] Wood Availability

[CLAY] Clay Deposits

[LAVA] Pooled Lava (on surface and at Y=12)

[WF] Waterfalls

[LF] Lava Falls

Achievements

There are certain score milestones that earn awards. You can search for seeds that have scored significantly in any category by using the following phrases in the search box:

Perfection! This seed has achieved one or more perfect scores.

Legendary Seed! This seed has astonishingly surpassed 120 out of 170 in the overall score.

Premium! This seed has scored higher than 80 out of 170 in the overall score.

Smooth! 8.0 or higher in flatland.

Populated! 8.0 or higher in villages.

Rolling! 8.0 or higher in mountains and hills.

Gashed! 8.0 or higher in ravines.

Spelunked! 8.0 or higher in caves.

Tubular! 8.0 or higher in abandoned mineshafts.

Impenetrable! 8.0 or higher in strongholds.

Abyssal! 8.0 or higher in deep water.

Well Hung! 8.0 or higher in overhangs.

Spanned! 8.0 or higher in land bridges.

Anti-gravity! 8.0 or higher in floaters.

Dark! 8.0 or higher in shadows.

Treemium! 8.0 or higher in wood.

Kiln 'em! 8.0 or higher in clay.

Fiery! 8.0 or higher in pooled lava.

Cascading! 8.0 or higher in waterfalls.

Falling Fire! 8.0 or higher in lava falls.

Procedure

When possible, I generate a full map by walking the entire board. Sometimes if I see a board is obviously awful, I'll quit early and post without a map. I take photos using my screen capture device. I also post videos from time to time. I wrap it all up in a nice neat bow and post them on the blog.

I do my best to find as many if not all of the amazing things to see as I can. I do make serious attempts to get underground, however as you can imagine this is quite time consuming and difficult. There have been seeds in the past labeled worthless that turned out to have amazing things like dungeons and diamonds. There's no such thing as a seed without a dungeon or a diamond, so when I don't report finding one, that just means these things are in not-so-blindingly-obvious spots. It could also mean I was getting a hand cramp and figured, well, there's a bunch of stuff here and they'll find the lapis lazuli when they come for the diamonds.

Understanding Seed Names

Seed names are sensitive, so I always pick seed names that are lowercase and contain no spaces unless otherwise indicated. And I do make a fuss when it happens. All seeds being tested are from the current build of Minecraft for the X-Box. These rules will be reposted (and possibly changed) with each version change. The reason for this is that seeds are specific to each version, so when the version changes all of the seed names I've tested become worthless and we start again. The current build is:

Xbox Minecraft version 1.8.2(equivalent to PC version 1.2)

Ratings

I refer to the seed's "rating" as the type of player I think should be playing it:

Beginner - perfect for a noob; boring for experienced players

Intermediate - a challenge for noobs; some interesting features for experienced players

Advanced - a bad experience for noobs; a good experience for the experienced

Expert - only for experienced players looking for a solid challenge

Suicidal Expert - only for demented sociopaths who want to cry and rend their pajamas

Terms

So, having done this for over four months now, I have developed a certain lingo that might be confusing to new players. So here are some common terms I use and their meanings.

balanced - equal parts awesome and horror; forests and desert; water and land

Can't Miss - this is an incredibly rare event that I want to highlight. It gets it's own section.

cliff diving - anyplace where you can descend rapidly and safely from the top of a cliff into water

day-walkers - enemies shaded by overhangs or trees that can survive and kill you during the day

landmark - a visually unique object or landmass that can be seen at great distances or that can be used for navigational purposes

scenic - any level that is visually beautiful

Definitions - Biomes

desert - all sand, cacti, no rain

forest - any location where tree density is so thick it causes shade

grassland - all green, no trees, lots of grass and flowers, not flat

plains - all green, no trees, lots of grass and flowers, flat

savanna - vast stretches of grass, mud, and/or rock with small shrubs or few trees

shadows - any land that is covered in shade as a result of another land mass above it or high tree density. Enemies lurk in shadows